1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to telephone systems, and more particularly, to a method and system for switching short-code accesses based on origination time and service area.
2. Description of the Related Art
The development of sophisticated computerized telephone switching networks has enabled the development of specialized switching services based on computerized recognition of dialed numbers that are not the final destination identifier. Signaling System 7 (SS7) networks are presently in use to provide 1-800 access numbers (using the 800 area code) to route toll free calls to particular telephone exchange identifiers.
The availability of short access codes is limited, e.g., there are only 100 two-digit access codes available at a given dial-out location. The limited availability of these codes and the likelihood of high demand for the shortest access codes makes it desirable to reuse codes after they are no longer needed, and make it possible to use the same code simultaneously for different purposes in different geographical regions.
In radio advertising and other applications where telephone numbers are temporarily used, allocation of a short access code to provide user response is impractical if the short access codes cannot be re-used or multiplexed so that multiple advertisers can be serviced with a limited number of short access codes.
In light of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide an improved method and system for switching a short code access.
The objectives of reusing telephone access codes and simultaneously using access codes in different geographical regions are achieved in a method and system for switching short-code accesses based on call origination time and service area. A service control point data base is initialized with switching information for a short-code access number including a time period and a destination. When a short-code dialed access to the short-code access number is received, the system determines whether or not the time period has expired, and if the time period has not expired, the call is switched to the destination.
The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.